KevinS
Senior Insider
This article from Today's Le Journal de Saint-Barth ( https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com/ ) talks about 14-day arrival quarantines (La Quatorzaine in French, translated to fortnight by Google), recent arrivals, and possible future testing of arrivals to the island. While there may not be answers, it's interesting to read.
Translation by Google Translate:
The fortnight upon arrival raises questions, future incoming screening tests too
Since March 23, 300 travelers have arrived on the island by air, and twenty-one boats at anchor in Gustavia. No cases were obviously imported among these entrants. Yet at the fortnight, Saint-Barth chose moderation, unlike most overseas territories. This measure cannot last forever. Authorities are working on the border testing protocol.
Admittedly, the system is not impermeable: it is well known that among those entering the airport, despite the recommendations and the monitoring carried out by the authorities, many have spurned fortnightly. We also know that some entered the island for a professional reason, while their presence was not an absolute necessity; and that these people have often flown directly to their workplace, the employer not necessarily being open to the idea of paying 14 days for workers who stay at home.
Likewise, at the port, we know that some boats entered without authorization or compelling reason. This was the case on May 1: the story of this couple arriving by sailboat from Martinique, without authorization, and wandering around Gustavia where the harbor master's office was closed due to a public holiday, went around the island.
If some people fall through the cracks, we should not see surges of "American tourists" where there are none. Authorities refused to allow people wishing to confine themselves to the island to board the aircraft or drop the anchor. Example with this major student cloistered in the United States, who wanted to join his parents' house on the island. His request was rejected, the reason being linked to comfort, therefore not imperative.
300 people at the airport, 21 boats at the port
Here are the official figures: between March 23 and May 14, 300 people entered Saint-Barthélemy via Remy de Haenen Airport, with Air Antilles and St Barth Commuter in large numbers. Over the same period, 488 people left the island.
On the port side, nineteen pleasure boats received the approval of the authorities to come to Saint-Barthélemy, between March 18 and May 11. On board, residents returning to the fold, short stopovers for the time to refuel, families with children in a state of emergency. Seven other ships were refused by the prefecture and the management of the port. Finally, two boats arrived without authorization and were checked a posteriori.
Yachts could come for fun
What about yachts? Four are currently present, three of whom were already there before the confinement, and one last arrived at the end of March with an authorization, from Saint-Kitts. On these floating villas, the protocol is easier to follow: the crew and passengers have everything they need on board to perform a fortnight at anchor.
The port of Gustavia has already received other requests for yachts anchored in the region, which wish to come to Saint-Barthélemy. From this week, he opens their doors to them, on condition that they adhere to a strict fortnight: nobody dismounts for 14 days, the administrative formalities, the supply and unloading of the bins, in particular, will be carried out by a shipping agent ashore. The protocol has not yet been officially signed, but it has already agreed to everyone (Community, prefecture, port, shipping agents).
These large boats would therefore be the first to be able to come to the island without compelling reasons. Once their fourteen days on board, they can get off and enjoy the shops, restaurants and bars open, without difficulty.
Fortnight, a limited-time measure
What is certain is that the fortnight, whether "gentle" as in Saint-Barthélemy, or strict as in Guadeloupe or Reunion (a device considered unconstitutional by the Elders), will not be able last forever. Untenable in the long term, and even more so with the approach of summer vacations. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the French could travel throughout the national territory, including overseas, in July and August. Inconsistent with the idea of spending 14 days cloistered, whether in a hotel or at home.
Triple test or fourteen divided
The government is actively working on this subject, in conjunction with the territories. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, launched a lead last week on Public Senate: "You are doing a test fourteen days before your departure, you would do one, maybe be, the day before or the same morning, and another seven days later, to make sure, at all times, that you are not a carrier. The work is underway, because we have to make sure that on the health side, from a scientific point of view, it makes sense. The logic of the fortnight, even if it is done in a residence that we know, is very demanding. "
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Secretary of State for Transport, gave a new lead Monday, May 18, detailing what he calls a “health corridor”: a fortnight carried out half before departure, half on arrival - it is reserved metropolitan arriving in the overseas territories, but not overseas arriving in metropolitan France- combined with several Covid-19 screening tests. "As we have differentiated local strategies, it seems to me that the possibility of setting up a health corridor in a very territorialized way would meet these locally carried objectives," he explained to the deputies. Last week, Michel Magras, like other parliamentarians, asked that the fortnight be imposed only on people who test positive for Covid-19 when they arrive in the territory. Refusal by Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, who questions the reliability of the tests.
Saint-Barthélemy has equipped itself with a Cepheid screening machine, with a capacity of sixteen tests in about an hour. Sixteen is roughly the number of passengers on a plane. The idea of setting up a test area at the airport was abandoned in favor of the "drive", where arrivals would be taken. For the port, it is even more delicate. Even by reducing their number of seats, the ferries will disembark in the small ferry terminal far more than sixteen passengers at a time. The equipment does not seem spacious enough to accommodate a test and waiting area; however, in case one of the small halls at the ferry terminal has been fitted out for this purpose.
It remains to be defined what we will do with the tourist who arrives and is detected positive. Unable to put it back on the plane or boat with other passengers; will it be confined to a hotel, villa, accommodation center? Taken in charge by the hospital, according to his state of health? What about people who have traveled with him? The questions are numerous, and the answers are not obvious.
Translation by Google Translate:
The fortnight upon arrival raises questions, future incoming screening tests too
Since March 23, 300 travelers have arrived on the island by air, and twenty-one boats at anchor in Gustavia. No cases were obviously imported among these entrants. Yet at the fortnight, Saint-Barth chose moderation, unlike most overseas territories. This measure cannot last forever. Authorities are working on the border testing protocol.
Admittedly, the system is not impermeable: it is well known that among those entering the airport, despite the recommendations and the monitoring carried out by the authorities, many have spurned fortnightly. We also know that some entered the island for a professional reason, while their presence was not an absolute necessity; and that these people have often flown directly to their workplace, the employer not necessarily being open to the idea of paying 14 days for workers who stay at home.
Likewise, at the port, we know that some boats entered without authorization or compelling reason. This was the case on May 1: the story of this couple arriving by sailboat from Martinique, without authorization, and wandering around Gustavia where the harbor master's office was closed due to a public holiday, went around the island.
If some people fall through the cracks, we should not see surges of "American tourists" where there are none. Authorities refused to allow people wishing to confine themselves to the island to board the aircraft or drop the anchor. Example with this major student cloistered in the United States, who wanted to join his parents' house on the island. His request was rejected, the reason being linked to comfort, therefore not imperative.
300 people at the airport, 21 boats at the port
Here are the official figures: between March 23 and May 14, 300 people entered Saint-Barthélemy via Remy de Haenen Airport, with Air Antilles and St Barth Commuter in large numbers. Over the same period, 488 people left the island.
On the port side, nineteen pleasure boats received the approval of the authorities to come to Saint-Barthélemy, between March 18 and May 11. On board, residents returning to the fold, short stopovers for the time to refuel, families with children in a state of emergency. Seven other ships were refused by the prefecture and the management of the port. Finally, two boats arrived without authorization and were checked a posteriori.
Yachts could come for fun
What about yachts? Four are currently present, three of whom were already there before the confinement, and one last arrived at the end of March with an authorization, from Saint-Kitts. On these floating villas, the protocol is easier to follow: the crew and passengers have everything they need on board to perform a fortnight at anchor.
The port of Gustavia has already received other requests for yachts anchored in the region, which wish to come to Saint-Barthélemy. From this week, he opens their doors to them, on condition that they adhere to a strict fortnight: nobody dismounts for 14 days, the administrative formalities, the supply and unloading of the bins, in particular, will be carried out by a shipping agent ashore. The protocol has not yet been officially signed, but it has already agreed to everyone (Community, prefecture, port, shipping agents).
These large boats would therefore be the first to be able to come to the island without compelling reasons. Once their fourteen days on board, they can get off and enjoy the shops, restaurants and bars open, without difficulty.
Fortnight, a limited-time measure
What is certain is that the fortnight, whether "gentle" as in Saint-Barthélemy, or strict as in Guadeloupe or Reunion (a device considered unconstitutional by the Elders), will not be able last forever. Untenable in the long term, and even more so with the approach of summer vacations. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the French could travel throughout the national territory, including overseas, in July and August. Inconsistent with the idea of spending 14 days cloistered, whether in a hotel or at home.
Triple test or fourteen divided
The government is actively working on this subject, in conjunction with the territories. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, launched a lead last week on Public Senate: "You are doing a test fourteen days before your departure, you would do one, maybe be, the day before or the same morning, and another seven days later, to make sure, at all times, that you are not a carrier. The work is underway, because we have to make sure that on the health side, from a scientific point of view, it makes sense. The logic of the fortnight, even if it is done in a residence that we know, is very demanding. "
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Secretary of State for Transport, gave a new lead Monday, May 18, detailing what he calls a “health corridor”: a fortnight carried out half before departure, half on arrival - it is reserved metropolitan arriving in the overseas territories, but not overseas arriving in metropolitan France- combined with several Covid-19 screening tests. "As we have differentiated local strategies, it seems to me that the possibility of setting up a health corridor in a very territorialized way would meet these locally carried objectives," he explained to the deputies. Last week, Michel Magras, like other parliamentarians, asked that the fortnight be imposed only on people who test positive for Covid-19 when they arrive in the territory. Refusal by Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, who questions the reliability of the tests.
Saint-Barthélemy has equipped itself with a Cepheid screening machine, with a capacity of sixteen tests in about an hour. Sixteen is roughly the number of passengers on a plane. The idea of setting up a test area at the airport was abandoned in favor of the "drive", where arrivals would be taken. For the port, it is even more delicate. Even by reducing their number of seats, the ferries will disembark in the small ferry terminal far more than sixteen passengers at a time. The equipment does not seem spacious enough to accommodate a test and waiting area; however, in case one of the small halls at the ferry terminal has been fitted out for this purpose.
It remains to be defined what we will do with the tourist who arrives and is detected positive. Unable to put it back on the plane or boat with other passengers; will it be confined to a hotel, villa, accommodation center? Taken in charge by the hospital, according to his state of health? What about people who have traveled with him? The questions are numerous, and the answers are not obvious.